


Heartbreak

by AmyNChan



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Breakups, F/M, Sad, kind of reflective, maybe angst?, mentions of Adrien, mentions of marinette, not quite angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2018-12-24 05:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12006438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmyNChan/pseuds/AmyNChan
Summary: A collection of heartbreak oneshots





	1. Slowly - DJWiFI

**Author's Note:**

> Summary: That was how he did most things. Slowly. He could be friendly with a person, but actual friendship would come slowly, with trust and time. He could learn new things, but that too took small steps and patience. Even falling in love was something he did slowly, and he was often unable to help himself the moment he discovered and accepted his attraction.

Some days were better than others.  There were times he could just lose himself in the day-to-day, laughing, joking, _being_.  It was honestly a relief at some points.  To know he could feel normal again.  To know he could _be_ normal again.

And then something would happen.  It was usually just small things.  A ladybug would sit on a tall blade of grass.  He’d find a black cat.  Sometimes it was as simple as taking a picture with his camera.  Little things that would remind him of her.

And then he’d be back at square one again.

Nino found a pebble on the road he walked.  It wasn’t a particularly big pebble, just big enough to make a sound when his foot shuffled over it.  A sort of clacking sound that couldn’t help but draw the eye and a portion of the mind.  After his initial startle, the boy could only smile.  A sad and melancholic smile, he was thinking about her again, but a smile nonetheless.  He drew his shoe back and let it shuffle over the pebble again.  Once more, it clacked gently against the pavement.

Back and forth, the pebble was nudged.  The sound shifted if he changed his direction in any way.  Forward made a lighter sound.  Back turned into grinding.  Nudging it off to the side made a strange dragging sound.

Such a simple task.

Nino nudged the pebble forward and it skittered freely across the pavement.  With nothing else to do, he followed its path.  When he’d caught up with it, he kicked it forward again.  He didn’t know why, but it helped.  Something so small to do helped.

At the very least, it occupied a little of his time and energy.  Maybe he could use the sound of the pebble in a new project.  He hadn’t really been up to anything since it happened.  Maybe a project would do him good.  Maybe if he could sit down and force himself to do something, even if it was crap, his muse would come back to him.  It probably couldn’t hurt to try, at least.

The pebble skittered further away.  He chased it slowly.

That was how he did most things.  Slowly.  He could be friendly with a person, but actual friendship would come slowly, with trust and time.  He could learn new things, but that too took small steps and patience.  Even falling in love was something he did slowly, and he was often unable to help himself the moment he discovered and accepted his attraction.

This time the pebble flew from the force.  His caramel eyes followed it.  It went pretty far.  Nino watched it fall and then resumed his steps.

It had been that way with Marinette.  Four years of being in the same class with her and he hadn’t noticed the feelings creep up on him until they had pounced.  Until he had needed to _do_ something about it.  And he had tried.  Oh, _man_ , had he tried.  But it had been a bust from the start. He couldn’t talk to her, could barely look at her when the butterflies erupted in his stomach.

He hadn’t even realized his scramble for an excuse was his way of saying he’d already noticed the other.

Not to say that she had ever been a backup.  No way.  He had already been dragged along some of Alya’s more insane adventures.  He had already heard her conspiracy theories and thought they were a bit out there.  He had already been exposed to her determination and tenacity for the truth.  Their friendship had been a strange balance, his part being relaxed and her part always pushing forward.  She kept him on his toes and he, for his part, tried to keep her grounded in reality and sanity.  Not that she would have ever listened, of course.

Nino chuckled to himself.  A sad sound that accompanied the returned skittering of the pebble.  It hopped lazily across the pavement, lacking its earlier energy.

Sliding into a relationship with Alya had been one of the fastest things he had done, to be honest.  His friendship with Adrien had started with an offer and only grown.  His friendship with Marinette had stewed over a few months, hit a rough patch, and then continued as normal.  His relationship with Alya?  Slid into like hitting the final score in cricket, like waking up in the middle of the night with a musical inspiration that just couldn’t wait until morning, like an idea for a movie that couldn’t wait until after class.  Alya had hit hard, hit fast, and then—the pebble stopped—then she had stopped.

Nino knew he shouldn’t have let his thoughts continue on so far, but what else was there to be done?  They clashed sometimes, and horribly at that.  He worried about her.  She kept being reckless.  She wanted to take him on adventures.  He couldn’t cease to be just a bit more practical about it.  Little things had made him fall in love with her and little things had led to their break.

He’d barreled into this headfirst, not thinking it through at all, not slowly as his nature often suggested he do.  She had been the slow one, the cautious one, for a change.  And it was now her caution that was jarring him back into his reality.

But his reality had shifted.  Things that had once seemed so scary now seemed a little endearing, even if they were still a bit asinine.  Things he had never paid attention to in the past now caught his interest, such as the way a news anchor would explain—“Sell, Nino,” Alya would say.  “They’re _selling_.”—their headline for the day.  Hell, he knew about half of the reporters that flocked to Ladybug after a battle on a first-name basis now.  He never would have cared about any of that.  But now he did.

Nino sighed.  He glanced down at the pebble.  It had stopped moving again.  He had stopped moving again.  Again.  Again, again, again.  Maybe it would be better to chuck it in the Seine.  Maybe it would be better to just walk past and forget about it.  It was just a pebble, after all.

Nino glanced around.  The trail he’d been walking was full of pebbles.  He could probably leave this one behind and start kicking a new one at any time.  He’d probably passed by a lot of really good kicking pebbles while he’d focused on this one.

But he liked this pebble.  He didn’t want to get another one.

The boy shook his head.  Now he was being ridiculous.  It was a _pebble_.  Resolutely, he turned around and decided it would be best to go home and try to make something.  A new set, even a crappy single.  Anything to get his mind off of Alya again.

With that, he quickly bent over, picked up the pebble, and shuffled home.  His fingers clasped around it and wouldn’t relieve themselves until he had placed it in his room, right above his mixing set.  Maybe one day he’d learn to let it go, maybe toss it in the Seine like he said he would.  But that resolution would have to come as most good things in his life did.  Just as most of the things in his life did.  Just at the pace he usually went.

Slowly.


	2. Goodbye - Nathanette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: But they knew. They always knew. The future was never theirs.

The air hung between them, thick as wool and heavier than such.  She couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes.  Not when her own were filled with tears and she had to keep them from falling.

“…for the best.”

She nodded.  What else could she do?  She knew the words were true, having told them to herself several times before.  She knew in her mind that this could have never worked out, not as they had been going, that sometimes even though you loved a person, you had to let them go.  For their good and for your own.  She knew all of it.

It didn’t make it hurt any less.

She took a deep breath and willed the tears back.  This was a grown up conversation and she would handle it as such.  She was twenty years old and hadn’t come this far only to break down now.  She willed herself to meet his eyes like he properly deserved.

He stood there, waiting for her to respond.  Of course he did.  He always did.

“I know.”  Marinette pushed her tears back.  “And I’m happy for you, I am.  You can really go after that degree you wanted now.”

“And I’m happy for you,” replied he, mindfully keeping his hands to himself.  “Getting into ESMOD isn’t easy.”

The chuckle she gave wasn’t watery, and for this she was glad.  So many memories they’d made together, so much time spent.  They’d whittled away afternoons, carved out evenings just for themselves, woken each other up with goofy text messages (though it was typically him who woke her).  They had pushed each other through hard days and celebrated memorable moments.

But they knew.  They always knew.

They knew when they shared their first kiss.  They knew when they whispered their ‘I love you’s.  They knew.  They always knew.  And they talked about it.  Rarely, but they did.

The future was never theirs.

“You know you can visit during your holidays,” said Marinette.  “We’ll have gingerbread in the winter.  Mama and Papa won’t let you go hungry.”

“I’d like that,” said he.  She could see it in his face, in his straight back, that this was hurting him too.  He had wanted this to work, but the more they had delved deeper in their relationship the more the both of them had realized that some differences, some life choices, were too large to sacrifice in the name of love.  Too integral to who they were as individual people to cast to the side for one another.

The time had come that they needed to move forward with their lives.  With what they really wanted.  With their goals and dreams.  That meant growing, changing, going forward…

…saying goodbye.

Marinette stood there for a moment.  Looking at him.  Watching him keep his distance and knowing that she ought to keep hers.  They had tried this before, breaking up.  Both times hadn’t ended well for either of them.  This was different.

“Nathanael…”  But there was nothing more to say.  He stood there, waiting, knowing that he was going to turn around and walk out of that door soon.  Knowing that this was it.  The end of _them_.  She stood for a moment, unsure what to say next. 

The choice was taken from her when he smiled. That understanding, kind smile she had known for so long.  It broke her heart to see it again, for it used to come before a hug and a kiss.  This time, however, he took another step backwards and raised his hand in a small wave.

“Goodbye, Marinette.  Good luck with everything,” said he.  With a final wave, he drew his coat around him, turned towards the door, and walked outside.  His stride was too purposeful to be casual, his coat too drawn to simply be bracing against the winds.  It was the last she saw of him before the door closed behind him.

This was the best thing for them.  They wanted different things out of life, and those different things couldn’t have been resolved.  They had tried at first, but it had been futile.  They were both stubborn at one point or another, unable to find that common ground that would be necessary in building a life together.  So even though they loved each other very much, they both had known.  Known this was the best thing for them.

 _Still…_ Marinette thought as her tears finally streamed down her face.  _Why does it have to hurt so damn much…?_

**Author's Note:**

> *shrugs endlessly and into the sunset* If someone could let me know what I'm doing with my life, that'd be great. X'D


End file.
